


Refraction

by fireun



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-13
Updated: 2010-06-13
Packaged: 2017-10-10 02:37:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/94512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireun/pseuds/fireun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neji was used to being on a pedestal and Sasuke was far too familiar with getting his hands dirty. Neither of them was easy to surprise, but they found out they excelled at startling each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Refraction

It was something in the way Neji tilted his head, not quite acknowledging, but definitely listening, his eyes focused on something just beyond everyone's left shoulder. It was in the way his hair slipped, one strand at a time, across his shoulders long after his body had gone still. He had a way of moving, little gestures that were almost impossible to catch and somehow imparted pages of information. He was infuriating and enthralling. Constrained, restrained.

He was prone to disdain, a minuscule shift in expression that involved a subtle twist of a cheek muscle, the slight flare of nostril and narrowing of eyes. His eyebrows would arch up like a lazy cat stretching, waiting for anyone to do something else so stupid as expect his undivided attention.

 

Sasuke was demanding, covertly changing the dynamic of every encounter so that the focus was on him. It was in the slight sneer that had a habit of curling the edges of his lips, the way his dark eyes always seemed too bored to bother. He had a habit of wearing world-weariness like a coat, at once repelling and enthralling everyone in his wake. Nothing was new, nothing could surprise.

 

Nothing was new apart from that startled spark that lit Neji's eyes for a second as Sasuke dared to pass close enough to brush arms.

 

It might have been a game at one point, Sasuke's habit of intruding on Neji's personal space, rendering all airs and graces impossible to maintain. He was arrogance scoffing at aloofness, and Neji dropped aloof long enough to be irritated.

 

They each maintained their sense of superiority, and those elevated emotions and expectations clashed.

 

Neji was used to being on a pedestal and Sasuke was far too familiar with getting his hands dirty. Neither of them was easy to surprise, but they found out they excelled at startling each other.

 

It started as an experiment, Sasuke stepping into the shadow of Neji's poise and corrupting it, dragging his fingers through Neji's hair, surprised to find it was softer than it looked, smelling slightly of sandalwood. Neji's eyebrows arched high in surprise as he held perfectly still, a stag freezing at the first hint of a predator.

 

It was a moment that begged a decision, an instant that hung just long enough for appraisal, and when Neji declined to warn Sasuke off, when Sasuke moved his hand from hair to the nape of Neji's neck, the moment passed and decisions became irrevocable. Neji couldn't take back silent permission, couldn't erase the way his eyes attempted to slip shut in response to the way exploration had turned into impromptu massage.

"Are you always this tense?"

"I have to be."

Muscles quivered when kissed, but hardly flinched when bit. Sasuke's exploration had shifted from inquisitive to insidious, baffled by how someone so hard could have skin so soft.

Neji's stillness was shed bit by bit, stray hairs sticking to the bit of perspiration, giving him away as Sasuke stripped him. It was too much sensation, too much involvement from a usually untouchable element. Sasuke had calluses along the pads of his fingers, cracked not from neglect but from a tendency to overlook the little things. Those rough bits of skin scraped along Neji's sides as rough lips worked at the side of his neck.

"You bruise so easily. I never would have guessed."

"You never would have had a chance."

 

Never should have had the chance. It was a fluke, a shift in perspective and priority that had them skin to skin, staring eye to eye, each daring the other to protest.

 

Sasuke had no business being draped across Neji's back, teeth scoring the pattern of years of frustration into pale skin. Neji had no reason to be hissing in reaction, his professional persona discarded in the face of such intense attention.

It could be chalked up to frustration, their almost frantic copulation- frustration with each other, with everything.

It could have ended there, Sasuke wiping sweat from his face with a discarded shirt. It would have ended there, had Sasuke not taken the time to wipe away their combined perspiration from Neji's back, if he hadn't chuckled quietly at the tangled mess they had made of Neji's hair.

 

It should have ended there, should never have left the village, leaving them in a tangle of limbs, Neji's hair tousled with twigs and harboring stray bits of greenery. Sasuke adored seeing Neji's skin dark with dirt, sweat having left streaks of the usual pale complexion partially visible here and there; loved seeing Neji's nose wrinkle with the faintest hint of disdain as he shook dirt and wrinkles out of clothing that had been hastily discarded some time before.

This was Neji down to his level.

 

ANBU had no place for personal relations. They watched each others back, but there as a possessive air amidst the professional concern. There was a biting demand to Neji's orders that had Sasuke's lip curling in defiant displeasure. The stare of Neji's mask was dispassionate, but Sasuke had learned the secret language Neji's every muscle spoke.

There was a tension quivering through ever bit of that posed poise. It had never been there before- its existence itched at Sasuke's assurance. Something had shifted, altered out of its casually effective existence. Something had changed.

And it had to do with the way Neji was tilting his head in silent inquiry.

 

Sasuke took a step back. It wasn't a retreat. Neither of them would accept it as such. It was a reassessment, a regrouping. Their careful balance was skewed, their effectiveness slightly diminished.

They each had something at stake now.

 

That was unacceptable, had never been part of the plan.

 

Neji wore his hair bound back when they were working, so at least Sasuke didn't have to resist the urge to tangle his fingers in it one more time before he turned away.


End file.
